Dr. Johnston on the Acarides of Berwickshire, 117 



30. SciRUS LATiRosTRiS; Herm. 



Scirus latirostris, Herm. Mem. Apter. 62. pi. 3. fig. 11. — Am- 

 monia latirostrisj Koch, Ubers. 76. — Bdella latirostris, Ger- 

 vais in Walck. Ins. Apt. iii. 157. 



Desc, Mite very small, scarlet with ochre-yellow legs. Body 

 oblong, narrowed forwards and rostrate, rounded and entire be- 

 hind, even and rather glossy, bristly with distant and rather 

 strong setae, and armed on each side near the shoulder with a 

 very long pricker ; venter coloured like the back with a yellow 

 spot in the middle. Rostrum short, furnished with a few curved 

 bristles on the sides, the pair near the truncate apex very short. 

 Mandibles as long as the rostrum, thick and stout, armed with 

 stout, curved, faintly tinted chelae, one of which only is moveable 



Scirtu latirostris. 



(fig. a). Palpi elongate, gracile, geniculate, the second joint 

 greatly elongated, cylindrical, sparingly bristled, the third and 

 fourth very short, the fifth or terminal again elongate but scarcely 

 half the length of the second, incrassated outwards and truncate, 

 the apex armed with two long unequal setse, and with a short 

 one on each side underneath (fig. b). Legs eight, equidistant in 

 their insertions, and of nearly equal length and thickness, shorter 

 than the body, tapered, bristly, six-jointed, the tarsal joint ta- 

 pered, three times longer than the penultimate, more copiously 

 setose, and furnished with two minute claws and an intermediate 

 pul villus. 



This is very closely allied to Scinis vulgaris, with which it 

 corresponds in size and in habits. My description is taken from 

 a single specimen, and hence it may be found that the yellowish 

 legs are rather the peculiarity of the individual than the cha- 

 racter of the species. The principal character which separates 

 it from the S. vulgaris is the short rostrum. There is a close 



B.N.C. — VOL. III. N°. III. K 



